It’s been nearly a week since the Full Circle Boys released their debut album, YOU NEED TO HEAR THIS, and the grind certainly hasn’t stopped.
The group’s latest stage took place at dance showcase “Dancing Under The Stars” in Utah, where they performed a range of their classic and new songs for the first time with The BYU Cougarettes. Taking an even bigger leap creatively, their ongoing limited series on YouTube adds a bold and cinematic touch to the project.
Directed by Keone Madrid, episode one introduced a unique narrative told through group therapy sessions. Led by actress Xochitl Gomez, the bandmates found themselves confronting their deepest vulnerabilities head-on. Every new song that appeared on screen presented its own music video, weaving a deeper story only they can tell.
Playing “ANIMAL,” “SOPHIE,” and “KNACK” for the first time, all five members’ performances resembled a metamorphosis that’s breathing new life into their artistry. The series is a love letter tied into a short film that’s dedicated to the group’s past, present and future together.
Coming straight off an exciting release weekend, we sat down with the Full Circle Boys on Zoom to discuss and process their new musical chapter. Read our full interview below.
(Photo credit: Maui Ong)
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Sweety High: What’s your favorite song on YOU NEED TO HEAR THIS, and why?
Oliver Hincy: “BEST SHOT” and “YOU NEED TO HEAR THIS” are my two favorites. But if I had to pick, I’d go, “YOU NEED TO HEAR THIS.”
James Herron: There’s probably been a time where each song has been my favorite, but right now it’s probably “POLITE” because we just performed it and it was super fun.
Sean Garrity: Usually it’s “ANIMAL,” but today it’s “BEST SHOT.”
Jagger Moon: Mine has always been “POLITE” since the day we wrote it. I’ve just always been its number one fan. Like James said, I think this past week also amplified it. Seeing people dance to it, I was just like, “Yeah, this song’s the GOAT.”
Dossan Bell: I’ll have to say “YOU NEED TO HEAR THIS.” I just love how it sends this whole album into a specific direction, especially with the title of it. It just sets a really good precedent for our sound now.
SH: Sometimes we do need a ballad moment, so “YOU NEED TO HEAR THIS” opens up the album really nicely… and we’re “POLITE” stans in this house!
Full Circle Boys: Ayeee!
OH: Come on now!
SH: How did your thoughts on the words “debut album” evolve over time?
SG: Initially, we were thinking that it was going to be an EP. But we went into it trying to write as much as possible, to then eventually make it an album and show it to our team to be like, “Wait, we have so much music, this needs to be an album.”
JH: I think when hearing the words “debut album,” you’re like, “Oh, we get to put out music.” But it evolved into something much bigger, especially if you’ve watched the first episode that we put out. We show our struggles that we’ve gone through as a band, and it’s become much bigger than what we intended it to be.
DB: In the beginning, “debut album” sounded a little daunting. But now when I think about one, I just think of how special it is in so many ways. It’s not just for us, but for so many other people to get to know who we are too.
(Photo credit: Maui Ong)
SH: In the studio, what did your initial brainstorming sessions look like?
JM: Straight chaos. The only one that I was a part of that had any initial direction on where it was gonna go was “BLEACHERS.” We definitely went in there and were like, “We want a song that can be played at any sporting event ever, something that’s easy to chant.” Everything else was very much like, “Let’s make a song today and see what happens.”
OH: “ANIMAL,” “SOPHIE,” and “KNACK” were created with us in mind because we made these a while ago and had the mindset of, “Let’s go back to that vintage boy band vibe.” We really wanted that sound, and I feel like the direction started to shift within that. We heard that boy band, but then we were like, “Okay, we could also make this into a Michael Jackson kind of sound.” So that’s how “ANIMAL” got to be.
DB: Our producer for those, his name is Radio, was really into the new jack swing sound at the time. Honestly, he absolutely killed this project. Without him, this whole thing would not have been what it was. Just listening to “SOPHIE” and everything on social media where people are like, “This song is crazy.” It’s because of Radio, so shout out to him.
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SH: Were there any alternate song titles that fans would be surprised to know about?
OH: Yeah, “7.16.” What was it called?
DB: It was called “WOULD HAVE” because the chorus says, “I was hoping you would have known.” Then I remember Sean telling me, “I don’t think that’s strong enough,” and I was like, “You’re right.” We kind of talked deeper about the meaning of that song and came up with “7.16,” that it’d be a date or something.
OH: When we were writing “SOPHIE,” it was supposed to be named “MARY.” Sean was like, “Let’s make a song about somebody named Mary. So we could be like ‘Mary, marry me’ or something.”
JM: Everybody in the room was writing something about a girl named Mary. Then Sean was just like, “It’s genius to talk about Sophie,” even though he’s the one that told us to write something about Mary.
SG: Just the melody that I had for the chorus was like, “SOPHIE.” That’s the name.
SH: This era, you’ve been wearing sticky notes that mention words of positivity. What are some challenges you had to overcome and embrace to make this album?
OH: It’s funny because the idea actually came from Jagger’s room. I went in, and he had all these sticky notes on his mirror. I didn’t read them because I was like, “That’s not my business.” But from what I saw, it was words of affirmation like “you’re good enough” or “you got this.”
I really looked at that and was like, “This would be such a good idea for YOU NEED TO HEAR THIS.” Instead of it being like, “Let me sell something to you,” it’s like, “Oh, we have this here.” If you listen to it, you might find something that you needed to hear, you know?
SG: Now that we’re in an album world, there’s a lot of conversation about how we can take our visuals to the next level and evolve instead of just doing another music video. So I think that was a big challenge in figuring out what we’re going to do to make it better.
JM: We had finished everything on our end, but there’s so many moving parts when it comes to making and releasing an album.
DB: It took a while. Like, the whole year.
JM: Yeah, because we finished recording it in December. There’s a lot of things to navigate, like mixing. All this stuff like visuals, scheduling with people and all that. It was just a lot of patience.
SH: During the creative process, what are some team bonding moments that stood out?
DB: There was a moment for “YOU NEED TO HEAR THIS” where the boys set me and Sean up to write in a session for that song. When we’re in this room and practicing harmonies, sometimes it’s not that we butt heads but…
SG: We both care.
DB: We both care a lot. Sometimes we’ll be like, “No, but what about this, this, and this?” I think they were like, “Let’s just have those two go in.” But honestly, it was one of the best sessions I’ve ever had in my life.
It was me, Sean, and then [producer] Jaye Locke. It just felt like the melodies were rolling out together versus like, “Here’s this melody, let me lay it down.” It just felt so smooth, and we were really honed in on wanting the same sound. It was just really cool and I remember being like, “Great dude. I love this guy.” [Dossan gives Sean a quick pat on the knee.]
JM: I think another good bonding moment was with Jack Newsome, who writes pretty much everything with us. He’ll usually say something like, “That’s perfect, that’s beautiful.” Then when we were writing the chorus for “BLEACHERS,” he was like, “This doesn’t make any sense. Why would you guys be in the bleachers? They should be watching you.” We were all like, “No, these are the lyrics.” It wasn’t like a bonding moment or anything crazy, it was just funny. He was like, “Okay, if that’s what you guys think.”
OH: Wait a second. We just got to start performing that in the bleachers.
JM: We should put other people on stage for it. We’re in the bleachers and we’re like, “Yes!”
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SH: How did you choose the order of songs on this album?
JM: We originally had a different arrangement in mind, which is the order of which songs are in each episode of our limited series. But then, we were just talking with some higher ups in our team. They’re like, “We kind of want them to be separate entities, the album and the visuals. We want them to be surprised when the episode comes out and not know what song is coming next.” So we’re like, “Okay, we can change it.” It was originally supposed to open with “BLEACHERS” because it was the first music video, but the order that it goes in now tells a pretty cohesive story.
“YOU NEED TO HEAR THIS” is when you see somebody for the first time and you’re like, “Whoa, that’s the person of my dreams.” You go into “BLEACHERS”, and you’re hyping yourself up to go talk to this person. “SOPHIE” is when you talk to them, you figure out their name. For “POLITE,” I just imagine you’re in the club. It’s when you start dancing with them, you’re getting to know them better. “PRESSURE” goes after.
“BEST SHOT” is a couple of months after you guys have met. It’s also when you’re too codependent on them where you’re like, “I love you, I can’t live without you.” Then, “PROMISES” is the breakup. “7.16” is when you realize you were the problem. But then in “KNACK,” you realize, “Wait, I’m also a problem.” Finally, “ANIMAL” is when you realize, “Oh wait, I’m pretty cool on my own. I can do whatever I want on my own.”
OH: That’s crazy because all four of us came in like, “As long as the album gets put out, I don’t care what order it is.” Then I remember Jagger coming in saying that exact stuff and being like, “Dang bro, you thought about it.”
SH: Over the past year, how has your musical and personal growth shaped the themes of this album?
JM: It’s definitely shaped the visuals more so than the actual album, because a lot of this has been done for a while. We wrote “ANIMAL,” “SOPHIE,” and “KNACK” back in May of 2025. It’s been a long time with these songs, but our creative director Keone Madrid helped us build out the story for the visuals this year.
Everything in our lives has affected everything that’s going on in the visuals, how we perceive ourselves, how our family perceives us, and how the fans perceive us. Sean said this before, but the album didn’t really make sense until the visuals started to come together.
OH: It’s weird because some of the songs felt like they were written in the future, but then we wrote them in the past. They didn’t resonate until we went through struggles with some things, and then it just felt right. We’re like, “Oh my gosh, this makes so much more sense.”
(Photo credit: Maui Ong)
SH: As independent artists, what are some of the benefits and challenges to maintaining a strong brand identity?
DB: We really do have so much creative freedom, and it’s honestly the biggest blessing ever. But sometimes when there’s not a big label behind you, people don’t tend to take it as seriously. It’s like when they see a big signing under someone, it’s like, “Well, I can trust that they’re actually real artists,” versus when you don’t have a big name under you. It’s kind of like, “Oh, I don’t know about them.”
OH: It’s harder to trust because you don’t know their next move of things. With the big label, you can trust that they’ll be going on tours and releasing music constantly. With independent artists, you don’t know if they’re going to stay or not. That’s the truth of it.
DB: Just getting that trust between the audience of like, “No, we’re legit.”
OH: Luckily, we’ve had some diehard fans that haven’t left our side. We actually got a ton of Post-it notes saying how much they mean to us, and that helps us a lot to keep moving forward. It’s so cool to see that people stay with us, even though it’s harder to trust.
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SH: You guys recently performed at “Dancing Under The Stars.” Since you often travel to Utah for promotions, what are your go-to spots there?
JH: We go thrifting a lot, because Utah has really good secondhand stores.
SG: There’s a big debate between these two restaurant chains, Cafe Rio and Costa Vida. I would say I’m Team Cafe Rio.
OH: Me too, me too, come on now! [Oliver shares an enthusiastic handshake with Sean]
JM: My go-to place is always mine, Dossan, and Ollie’s old dance studio, Infinity Dance. I always find myself there at some point whenever we’re there. One morning, I just left Sean and James at my house like, “I’m going to Infinity, sorry.”
OH: Bring Maverik to California. I went there the other night, and their burritos are fire. Everything there is just so good for some reason.
JM: Utah people love In-N-Out as well. Like, they’re crazy.
OH: Last one, Texas Roadhouse. Holds a special place in my heart.
DB: Last, last one. My house.
SH: Your limited series is a huge step in expanding the Full Circle Boys multiverse, and more specifically the women in it! What was it like to collaborate with Xochitl Gomez and Sophia Lucia for the first time?
JM: We had met Xochitl before, so we kind of had a little relationship slash banter. We knew who she was as a person beforehand, so it was very easy being on set with her. I had seen Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness before, but she’s actually insanely good at acting. She just acts circles around all of us, but she’s so down to earth too.
Sophia was a little different because we didn’t know her beforehand, but we’re insanely good friends now. Like, we’re constantly talking to her. She’s been super supportive and nice to us.
OH: She actually posted something about us at [dance tour] Ovation. Then we saw it, went to the after-party, and saw her. We went up to her and were like, “You want to be in a music video?” That’s literally how it started. After that, it just went uphill.
DB: They’re both just super amazing people. They’re not only insanely talented at what they do, but just good people and that’s our favorite thing. Just working with good people, it doesn’t get much better than that. Honestly, what’s funny about Xochitl is that we met her through TikTok. So yeah, shout out TikTok.
SH: If you were to perform for a YOU NEED TO HEAR THIS tour right now, describe what that show would look like.
SG: I hope that it’d have a narrative. I love tours and performances that follow a story arc connecting the songs. Maybe there’s a little bit of acting in between songs, or a lot of costume changes.
OH: I always think about musicals, and I feel like we would gravitate towards something similar. We love to put on a show. We couldn’t just sit there and sing songs, for sure. That’s not who we are.
JH: We would for sure have dancers. After performing in Utah with The Cougarettes, it just adds so much to the stage and it’s so fun.
JM: Since it’s called YOU NEED TO HEAR THIS, the whole thing could be set up around us hanging out, somebody’s on aux, and we’re just playing music together. Me and Dossan did this dance where it involved headphones the whole time, so maybe if we did something that played with that. Just something interesting and different that you usually don’t see from people, yeah.
(Photo credit: Keone Madrid)
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SH: Lastly, is there anything else you want the fans to know that we didn’t ask about?
SG: There’s nothing else you need to hear. [Entire group laughs]
DB: Just keep playing that album. You keep digging.
Listen to YOU NEED TO HEAR THIS in full here:
Want to find more interviews with the Full Circle Boys? Click HERE to read them chat about their latest single, “BLEACHERS.”
